New here and already see there is a lot to learn and to make!! To date I have only dealt with steam engines made by others but have my eye on a kit to make an engine myself. I recently obtained a boiler that has had the original single burner replaced with two controllable burners. It is a Stuart 504. My question is does anyone recognize the burners in the picture, what did they use for fuel and the approximate age or date of mfg., etc. Thanks for any help anyone can provide. Ed ..read more

Today was my second day of break-in on a compression ignition engine I machined and assembled. Its the ML Midge engine. I noticed some exhaust gunge coming out where the compression screw enters the cylinder head. I was not expecting that. It must mean there is some exhaust leaking past the contra-piston. Is this normal or do I need to go make another contra-piston? I did have one good several-minute long run where the RPM seemed correct, but other times the engine is just chugging... Read more ..read more

I have built a couple of Stuart triples and enjoyed the learning curve, I took lots of pictures and have put them together with descriptions, if you’ve got 15 minutes to spare I hope you enjoy I wish there was something similar I could’ve seen when I started ..read more

Since it became rather obvious that I'll need some kind of angle plate fixture to make the Stuart engine that I've decided to build I got my son to weld up a thing that might be something close. The flycutting of a reasonable surface went well, leaving a finished surface that may need truing up after the rest of the machining, who knows? To cut the slots I attempted to reach down using a very long 10mm end mill with an indexable insert. The quill is the part right at the top of the photo... Read more ..read more

Ron said the following [https://modelenginenews.org/m5/morton.html#s1a]: That does not seem to make sense in light of the drawing: The Morton M-5's five cylinders are at 72° intervals with the #1 cylinder at top dead center. It seems to me that the drawing shows that the 10 tappet guide holes are located symmetrically ±20° about the cylinder centerlines. How did Ron end up with left-right asymmetry? Or is he saying the 5 larger inlet hole... Read more ..read more

I've been looking at the drawings for a Stuart engine that I'm about to attempt and realised that I'm probably going to have to calculate the hole positions relative to a fixed datum zero point so that the DRO can do all the heavy lifting. Just wondering what the concensus is on posting a chart for the positions relative to a fixed point and what the copyright infringements might be if I redid the drawing showing the X,Y positions of the various holes? The drawing is in fractional inches and... Read more ..read more

It has been a while since I posted a build thread here but thought I may as well show one. It all started when I said in another thread about Nattie*. "Could not help thinking while I was running this that it would be fun to see if the cylinder could be sleeved to form a water jacket, gears changed to get 1:2 ratio, add a couple of valves into what was the exhaust block (turned on it's side) and a spark plug or hot tube in the head, about 24mm bore should work" A few months later... Read more ..read more

Hi i would like to pick the brains from the experienced. How would you machine this part. I have done a few and must admit it is a pain. You will see from my sketch how i do it from a disc of material twice the size of the actual part, it works, but it is a terrible waste of material. Any clever ideas as how to approach this. I assume you can build it op from two parts as well, but is becomes difficult when it is so small. Any smart youtube links maybe of a clever method. These parts are... Read more ..read more

I found a great webpage about how to mix fuel and techniques to start up small diesel compression ignition engines. But Im not sure of how long the mixed fuel can be kept and still be effective. Does it go bad after one day, one week, or what - stored in a metal tin can with lid ? here is the webpage: https://www.eifflaender.com/engine-instructions here is my break-in run on a ML Midge engine I machined and assembled - attached. i have additional videos of the engine running at... Read more ..read more

I have 23 Strictly IC magazines to sell as a complete lot, not individual issues. The list of issues is listed below. All in good shape, tho the cat did chew up the corner of one of them a little. Some have had the drawings removed to make copies of them, but all have been put back into place. $130 for them with USPS flat rate shipping for the US only. If out of the US postage is extra. Oct-Nov 89 Oct-Nov 90 Aug-Sep 90 Dec 93-Jan 94 Feb-Mar 93 Apr-May 93 Jun-Jul 93 Aug-Sep 93 Oct-Nov 93... Read more ..read more